Civic Center Courthouse

Civic building

Civic Center Courthouse (civic building, run by the Superior Court): $33.0M budgeted for its department in FY2025, 556 employees on the payroll, 3 city documents at the Internet Archive, every figure linked to its source. The Civic Center Courthouse at 400 McAllister Street was new in the late 1990s — an environmental report for the neighbouring 525 Golden Gate Avenue project describes it as newly constructed, standing about 85 feet to the parapet and 100 feet to the dome at the corner of Polk and McAllister. Most of its record here concerns its art, and the city paying for that art in careful instalments. The Arts Commission approved a second interim payment of $103,500 to Paley Studios for fabricating artwork at the courthouse, then an interim $15,750 conditional on the door handles and security gates conforming to contractual specification, and finally, in January 1998, a last payment pending inspection of all the lobby security gates. The commission then accepted Albert Paley's work — the front door handles and etched gates — into the city's Civic Art Collection. The jury assembly room was furnished separately: Lewis deSoto's contract was increased by up to $35,000 for subcontracted fabrication of its furniture, and closed with a final payment of $500. The building's own upkeep runs quieter: repair of damaged stone facade in 2008, a new class A roof in 2018, and a $3.1 million upgrade of six traction lifts and one hydraulic lift issued in 2023. Source: SF Controller open data and the Internet Archive.